“Just Ask! is a public awareness campaign run by Bordbia, The Irish Food Board, that aims to encourage consumers, when eating out, to look for information on where the food on their plate comes from and to encourage chefs to provide this information on their menus.”
In recent years, here in Ireland, the publicity generated by chefs in kitchens demanding better produce to work with in the first place have heightened the standards expected by customers in restaurants. Although often more expensive to buy because of the scale of operation, locally sourced produce, especially meats, are finally becoming the norm and the expected on Irish menus.
Restaurants are encouraged to provide transparency to customers by crediting the local suppliers for their product and providing supplier (particularly meat) details and country of origin information on their menus.
Each Month Bordbia pick one Just Ask Restaurant of the Month based on these criteria
and this month’s recommendation is: VM Restaurant, Viewmount House, Co. Longford.
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| Viewmount House Head Chef Gary O'Hanlon |
"Our menus show "VM’s" dedication to sourcing locally produced foods and we use them to name-check all of our suppliers. Meat suppliers include Thornhill duck from Cavan, Wild Irish Game from Longford and Co. Wicklow, dry aged beef from Donald Russell, Co. Longford and rare breed pork from Jana Reinhaart.
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| Traditional Irish Food with a modern Twist |
Kettyle Meats, Fermanagh supply us with their ‘free to roam’ chickens. Seafood suppliers include Albatross of Killybegs, Co. Donegal and John Rogan of Rathowen, Co. Westmeath who supplies us with organic smoked fish. Free range eggs are supplied by O'Halleran's of Kenagh, Co. Longford and fruit and vegetables are supplied by Shanley's of Longford Town and by Viewmount's own gardens."
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| The VM Restaurant at Viewmount House, Co Longford |
See here for previous JUST ASK winners http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutfood/eatout/pages/previouswinners.aspx
If you are own an Irish Restaurant you can check to see if you fit the criteria to be considered for a JUST ASK recommendation Click HERE
Thanks to Bordbia for Just Ask info & details
Don't forget to feed the fish at the bottom of this post!
zack